Quinto Talks Spock, Nimoy

Now that Zachary Quinto has been confirmed as playing young Spock in the next Star Trek movie, he can speak about the role and how he will approach it.

"I think I'm going to get to know him as a man," Quinto told Sci Fi Wire at Comic-Con, where director J.J. Abrams introduced him along with Leonard Nimoy, who will reprise the role of the older Spock.

Quinto said that he did not plan to mimic Nimoy and had discussed with Abrams that "it's not about recreating anything...it's about reimagining it. And I feel like I'll do that in my own way. I don't know what that's going to be yet, but that's what my process is."

TrekMovie.com reported that Quinto got the role relatively quickly, after being out of the US for two months. Asked about his Heroes co-star Greg Grunberg, a longtime friend of Abrams', Quinto said, "I am sure Greg came to my aide as a character reference." He said that the producers of Heroes had been extremely supportive, which is why he will be able to work on both projects.

As for what drew him to the script when he was not a lifelong Star Trek fan, "There is humanity to it," Quinto said. "There is definitely an honesty to it that I think people will be really drawn to...whether they are a big fan of the series before or not. And that is something I really responded to."

He said he would be very happy to co-star with William Shatner if the producers work the original Kirk into the storyline as well: "I mean Bill Shatner is an amazing actor and is responsible for the success of this franchise for the last 40 years as much as anybody who has been a part of it...I would be thrilled and honored to meet and [work] with him."

And Quinto spoke to The IESB, calling his casting in the Star Trek franchise "very gargantuan in scale, I feel very humbled by it." He also said that he was very happy to be working with Nimoy and to have his blessing in the role.

As to his background, Quinto said that he had "worked long and hard" to reach this point in his career, and promised to "be doing a lot of reading, a lot of research" about the Star Trek universe. Quinto said he only recently learned that Vulcans were not born without emotions but had to choose that path. Young Spock, he noted, is "at a time in his life when he's probably not as grounded in his certitude" that he will follow a strictly Vulcan path.